Risking My Heart
by Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare
Summary: There comes a time when bloodbending is of use... like when you have to save the person you care about. .:. Alternate outcome of Zuko’s fight with Azula in Sozin’s Comet. Katara’s POV, hinted Zutara pairing.


**A/N: just a little oneshot that has no point. I just thought that it was messed up how close Zuko and Katara were getting, and even the subtle closeness Aang and Toph were getting, and yet Kataang and Maiko happened. i don't like that! ...so i took a very Zutara-ish scene and added to it a little bit.**

* * *

When we arrived, I don't know what I expected. Maybe I thought it'd be like the day of the eclipse, with hardly anyone around. I don't know, I think I was hoping things could be simpler, smoother, _easier_.

Deep down, I knew it wouldn't be so pleasant. But I clung to my hope, because I realized that it was the only thing keeping me going through everything. I guess that makes my character in that dumb play on Ember Island partially correct.

The second I stepped off of Appa, I was prepared to do whatever was necessary. Beside me, the look in Zuko's golden eyes told me that he was feeling the same. We saw Azula with her hair in an oddly cut, messily tied up style of disarray and her eyes clouded with insanity. It was disturbing to see, since the normal picture of her that comes to mind is of a cruel, clean, sharp young woman who keeps herself as perfect as possible because she thinks she_ is_ perfect. And yet this Azula in front of us, the one about to be crowned Fire Lord, is an Azula that has been hiding in the darkness.

I understood immediately what the change in her was. I understood that the inner Azula was one wrapped up in not only herself pride, but also her anger. So I knew right away what occurred: she went mad. She became utterly _deranged_.

It was confirmed as the truth when she refused the crown and challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai. He said something was "off" about his sister, and that's why he thought that he could take her alone this time around. I could tell he was thinking the same thing about her appearance that I was.

So, slowly, we made our way in silence to the flat area used for dueling. I bit my lower lip and stood on the sidelines, merely an observer. I flitted nervously with the blue fabric of my tribal clothes, which feel good on my skin after weeks wearing too-light Fire Nation clothing. I breathed as lowly as possible, nearly on the brink of holding my breath completely. The air was thick and tense, full of sweat and sweltering heat. I could choke on air like this, air so humid and drenched in anticipation.

In the blink of an eye, the fight began. I watched with a stricken face as my former enemy and newest friend battled it out with the loose, cackling madwoman. His face, when I could catch a glimpse of it, was stone hard. His teeth were clenched, his eyes were glistening and strong, his nose not flaring in the least. I could tell that Zuko wasn't enjoying any of this like his sister was. He looked almost in pain, as if – despite her malevolent ways – he wished things didn't have to come to this: a final battle between siblings.

I tried to picture myself off my rocker and fighting with Sokka. I could see him in his warrior stance, meteorite sword raised, his brows furrowed. And, if I squint the eyes of my imagination, I could see myself with my hair standing up on the ends, the twin loops out of their beads and strewn across my face as I scowled and howled with demonic laughter like Azula.

It's a frightening thing to imagine.

Then, as I witnessed a beautifully terrifying show of blue-white and orange-yellow dance and flow like streams of flowering magma, the image in my mind melted to a brief picture of Aang and Ozai. My heart clenched as I wondered where Aang was, and what he was doing. Could he be at war with the self-proclaimed Phoenix King at this very moment? If I wasn't so afraid for the scene before me, I might cry. But I never did, at least not yet.

The clash of the two types of fire continued. Azula barely dodged a few of Zuko's red-hot blasts, and he was ever-weary of Azula's icy flames. They looked like that: fire so cold that it burned deeper and harsher than normal fire. After their little field trip, Aang and Zuko tried to tell us about the multi-colored fire of the dragons, but I couldn't imagine such a thing. It seemed odd to think about flames with green, purple, and magenta hues. All I saw was red, orange, yellow, and this strange blue that Azula creates. Over and over I saw those colors, zipping in and out of my vision in broad streaks. Boom, boom, boom… here, there, all around me. My forehead began to perspire from all the heat, my hair already fizzing in some places.

Azula started to slip up as Zuko predicted. I saw her stumble, saw her fall, saw her roll across the stone ground with grunts escaping her mouth. I knew it wasn't long before someone paid the price for this duel.

I prayed Zuko wouldn't be that 'one'.

"Where's your lightning?" Zuko demanded. "Afraid I'll redirect it?"

_Don't egg her on,_ I thought vaguely. I brought my hands to my chest and gripped my mother's necklace, worry rising rapidly in my throat.

"Lightning? I'll show you lightning!" Azula said in a loud, bitter, contorted tone. I watched her bring about the largest charge of electricity I've ever seen in my life.

Terror shot down my spine and churned in my stomach with an eerie tartness that made me shiver. She was staring at me. Azula was looking passed her brother _directly at me_. In half a second my mind wrapped around what was about to happen: she was going to take a cheap shot and send her bolts of fury at my heart.

I felt suddenly frozen, as if the world around me was the deepest, coldest point of the South Pole on the very bottom of the Earth. I could see the lighting, coming right at me in a dozen lines of zigzagged blue-white light. In a flash, I knew I'd be crumpled on the ground in extreme pain. After all, water carries electricity, and being a water bender means having water with you always.

I heard someone shout, "No!" at the top of their lungs. It was deep and a bit raspy…

Zuko.

I blinked hard and saw him racing as if in slow motion toward the lightning. I don't know the first thing about redirecting lighting, but the way I've seen him practice it looks like you carry it from one end to another like you would when bending water. And when you bend water or fire, you never let the paths cross. You never let it touch near your chest, or else you'll hurt yourself.

But as Zuko leapt in front of my to protect me, I winced when I noticed his hands being brought to his breast. A voice, similar to Iroh's, told me that this was wrong. You shouldn't let lightning pierce your heart.

Zuko didn't release the lightning. It imploded in his hands and sent him flailing to the ground. I couldn't hear anything all of a sudden… all I saw was Zuko huddled on his side, twitching with tiny shocks, and then falling limp on his back, his arms outspread.

"Zuko!" I yelled, but Azula wasn't finished. She came after me.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. I was so furious with her. I wanted to stop her. I wanted to take my pain out on her for hurting Zuko like she had done to Aang back in Ba Sing Se. I wanted her to know what she's done to the people I care about most by giving her a taste of her own medicine.

Luckily for me, there was plenty of water nearby to work with. Being careful with my motions and as precise as possible with my attacks, Azula and I went around and around. We wove a fatal dance with water and fire across the dueling center. I longed to return to the middle of it and heal Zuko, but I was short on time. I needed to fight off Azula and somehow restrain her before I could help the boy in agony.

Thinking fast and literally on my feet, I played my cards right using two things: metal and ice. It took a while, but as Azula stood frozen in position to attack, I bent the water around me to grant mobility and tied her wrists with chains to the metal grate under our feet that lead to a water system of some sort. It wasn't easy, but I prevailed. I felt a small tug of accomplishment, the sort you feel when you're free to go do something else. Yet I couldn't help the stab of pity that pecked at my heart when Azula began to weep now that she's finally lost.

I took one last fleeting glance her way before I ran to Zuko. He lay there, barely breathing, his heart rate slowly down tremendously. I felt like crying. What if I can't heal him in time? What if he dies? There would only be Azula and I to blame if that happened. And if that did happen, I doubt Aang could ever forgive Azula… or me.

I bit my lip nervously and pulled some water from somewhere behind me. I frantically coated my hands in it and placed them over the highly noticeable wound in the middle of Zuko's exposed chest. It was burnt in the center, just like Aang's, and flared out around the edges in a jagged pattern. There was a static shock sensation that jolted up through both my arms when my fingertips connected to his flesh. He groaned painfully under my touch and his face scrunched up, but that was a sign that he was alive, which is good enough for me.

"Katara…" he half-groaned, half-murmured. His eyes peeked open and they were dull, as if he was on the brink of death. I batted tears away with my lashes and I searched for the chi and strength to heal him. The water on my hands glowed and drove deep into his body. So deep, in fact, that I could feel Zuko's heart as if it were right in the palm of my hand. I shuddered, but forced myself to continue. I have to keep going if I want to save him; unlike Aang's case, I have no spirit water. Then again, Aang has a worse wound than this.

His blood pumped through his heart slowly, weakly, and stuttered from the miniscule aftershocks that lingered in his system. Zuko groaned again as I reached into him through his wound and found the damage in his nervous system. I never thought I could do something like this when I heal… it was different than the soothing coolness of my usual healing. What's different? How come I felt like I'm a doctor with a magnifying glass that allowed me to see inside of a person?

Could I be… bloodbending? But I thought bloodbending was meant to only hurt and control! So why…

I didn't question it any further. I didn't have time to. I kept going, sealing up what I could of his wound and repairing as much of his damaged nerves as I was able. It was difficult when I hardly knew what I was doing and have never had the opportunity to practice bloodbending of this stature.

After minutes that seemed to drag on for hours, Zuko was calm and no longer in pain, his heart returned to normal pace and his breathing as level as sleep. I kissed his cheek, glad he was safe and sound. His face was red when I pulled away, though I knew he was grateful. "We need to get going," I reminded him softly.

Soon we were moving again, and I couldn't help the smile that graced my features. Zuko was mostly healed, Azula had been defeated, and we were on our way to find Sokka, Suki, Toph, and all the others.

"Katara," Zuko muttered to me as he leant on my shoulder on our way to Appa. "Thank you. You… saved my life."

"It's the least I can do," I whispered in reply. I couldn't explain why, although I got the feeling that he understood. He gazed sideways at me with a kind of glow that made my cheeks flush, and I stubbornly looked onward, toward the remainder of the final attempt of resistance against Ozai. "Now let's go find our friends."

"And the Avatar," Zuko added weakly. "I can feel that he's back from wherever he went."

I laughed in relief. "Only you would, Zuko."


End file.
